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ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday he was leaving the 5-Star Movement to form a new parliamentary group backing the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Di Maio’s move comes after he accused 5-Star leader and former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of undermining government efforts to support Ukraine and weakening Rome’s standing within the European Union.

“Today’s is a difficult decision I never imagined I would have to take … but today me and lots of other colleagues and friends are leaving the 5-Star Movement,” Di Maio, himself a former 5-Star leader, told a news conference.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Gavin Jones)

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By Corina Pons

MADRID (Reuters) – Standing by his swimming pool at his home in an affluent Madrid suburb, retired engineer Juan Manuel Cosmes Cuesta enthuses over the 30% state subsidy he will get for installing solar panels that have already more than halved his monthly power bills.

    “Lots of people we know – neighbours, my wife’s friends in the area – are doing it and everyone is happy,” he said.

Not so in less wealthy areas a short drive away.

“I understand that for these subsidies you have to put up part of the money first and that it is a lot for many people,” said Manuel Blanco, a 44-year-old plumber who lives in the 1970s-built San Pascual district.

Others said the top priority was lifts as they struggle up the many flights of stairs in old apartment blocks.

“What we need most here are elevators to help the elderly,” said Candela Garcia, 73, who has lived in the working class Orcasitas neighbourhood south of the Spanish capital since she was a child.

    As Europe doubles down on green ambitions made more urgent by a fuel and cost of living crisis, the disconnect between Madrid’s suburbs highlights a wider dilemma for policy-makers: how to ensure low-income groups are not left further behind as economies embrace the energy transition ahead.

Cosmes Cuesta is comfortably off rather than rich, but he can afford the wait for his state subsidy.

“I don’t know when they will pay it, but eventually they will,” he said.

Grievances over social justice were at the heart of the “yellow vest” protests in France in 2018 that prompted President Emmanuel Macron to abandon an ecology tax on petrol and diesel, which was meant to limit fossil fuel use, but was seen as hitting those who could least afford it.

Similarly, questions of fairness arise as governments hand out subsidies to try to reduce emissions and also reliance on imported Russian fossil fuel through increased use of renewable energy and improved insulation.

Spain is using EU grants as part of a goal to make 510,000 dwellings more energy-efficient by 2026, notably targeting the apartment blocks in which two thirds of Spaniards live and that are mostly over two decades old and poorly insulated.

    In some cases, subsidies can cover up to 80% of costs and include upfront payments or tax breaks. Construction groups, such as Ferrovial or OLHA, and banks, including BBVA and Santander, are encouraging take-up by offering to help with the application paperwork and financing.

    As a further sweetener for apartment-dwellers, some projects price in the installation of elevators.

Aid for accessibility ramps and lifts remains the subsidy most sought by residents’ associations from the Madrid housing office, as 40% of Spain’s residential buildings with four floors or more do not have an elevator, official figures show.

Regarding the new subsidies, residents’ associations, consultants and researchers told Reuters low-income apartment owners were either unaware of them or reluctant to sign up.

    “There is still very little interest among residential owners,” said Salvador Diez Lloris, president of the national building administrators’ association.

    Andimat, the national association of companies that sell insulation products, calculated that for a full renovation of a typical six-floor block – changing windows, facades and roofs – a 65% subsidy of the 159,000 euro ($167,363) cost would be available.

That would cut energy consumption by 59%, but each household would still have to find 4,600 euros up-front.

But Andimat director Luis Mateo said there was no “sales boom in refurbishment”.

BASKING IN SOLAR ENERGY

Contrast that with the brisk trade in subsidised solar panels in the wealthier suburbs of Madrid and Barcelona, where one-family houses dominate: Christopher Cederskog, chief executive and co-founder of solar supplier SunHero, expects least at 30% more installations this year.

“My clients are asking a lot about subsidies,” Cederskog told Reuters.

    The two-speed take-up means in practice that while Blanco the plumber saw the electricity bill for his apartment double to 270 euros per month in the winter, retired engineer Cosmes Cuesta saw his bills drop from 120 euros in December to just 43 euros in April after his panels were installed.

“Our society has not sufficiently internalised the improvement of energy efficiency”, said María José Piccio-Marchetti, Director General of Housing and Rehabilitation of the Community of Madrid. “It is a change of concept.”

As Belgium, France, Italy and others all seek to improve energy efficiency and energy bills surge, Marie Le Mouel, affiliate fellow at Brussels-based Bruegel Institute, said now is the time to offer grants – but the challenge is to design the schemes properly.

    “Energy efficiency of building stock is kind of the next big item on the decarbonisation agenda,” she said. “In Europe every country is struggling to find the right mechanisms to make this work.”

    Italy’s “super-bonus” scheme is even more generous than Spain’s. The state pays 110% of the cost of turning buildings green, from insulation to solar panels to replacing boilers and window fittings – has created jobs and boosted the economy, but has also run into issues of fairness.

    “The benefits have gone to very few people, mainly the well-off and well-qualified with houses in the historic centres of large cities, particularly in the northern half of the country,” small-business lobby and think tank CGIA said in a report.

Silvia Pastorelli, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said one approach could involve grants for the less well-off and subsidised loans for the wealthier. She praised Belgium’s scheme for linking grant size to household income.

“You shouldn’t need to own the roof above you or the walls around you to benefit from solar panels or insulation, and you shouldn’t need tens of thousands in your account to renovate if you struggle to pay your heating bills,” she said.

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ left-leaning government acknowledges the problem but says the scheme is unprecedented and it is essential to make a start.

Authorities and businessmen are betting that once the first buildings manage to pay less for electricity following renovation work and subsidies, more owners will seek those aids as they see that their neighbours have succeeded.

David Lucas, general secretary for housing and urban agenda at the Transport Ministry, estimated the 4 billion euros allocated to this plan would be spent by 2026 as 9.3 million homes in the country need to be renovated.

    “Billions of euros cannot be a problem, it has to be an opportunity,” he said.

($1 = 0.9500 euros)

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones in Rome and Belen Carreno in Madrid; editing by Mark John and Barbara Lewis)

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Saudi Crown Prince: 5 Years in Power and Going Strong

Mohammed bin Salman is shaking up his conservative kingdom with major liberal social and economic reforms

On the fifth anniversary of his being named crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the young and powerful Mohammed bin Salman is touring Middle East capitals ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit next month.

He is the de facto ruler of the wealthy desert kingdom, as he rules with an iron fist under the protection of his ailing 86-year-old father, King Salman.

Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told The Media Line that the prince oversees managing the kingdom’s daily affairs.

“I would call Mohammed bin Salman the head of government or the day-to-day ruler.”

Prince Mohammed has been accused of ordering the killing of Saudi national and journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The 36-year-old favorite son of King Salman has his father’s absolute support, and the backing of the Al Saud family, having virtually eliminated all competition.

US intelligence implicated him in Khashoggi’s death, saying that Prince Mohammed “approved” an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a charge he denies.

That led to his isolation, and he was shunned by many Western leaders.

On November 19, 2019, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden said during the Democratic Party debate that he would not sell Saudi Arabia weapons.

During his presidential campaign, Biden said he wanted to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah.”

But the US president’s visit to the kingdom next month will reintroduce the prince to the international community.

On his first trip to the Gulf region as president, Biden plans to see MbS during the meeting with King Salman.

“In the US you have candidates who say one thing on the campaign trail and do something totally different once they’re in office,” Giorgio Cafiero, CEO and founder of Gulf State Analytics, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Washington, told The Media Line.

“At this point, the practicalities of realpolitik are trumping more posturing,” says Cafiero.

Western countries have imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine that include a near boycott of Russian oil and gas, sending energy prices soaring, sparking worldwide inflation, and threatening an acute shortage of energy.

Ibish says Biden could explain his policy shift on Saudi Arabia by saying his top priority is the American people.

“He can say ‘I have my own feelings about human rights but my job as president is to defend the American people and serve the national interest,’ and he may say he is doing these unpleasant things in the name of statecraft,” says Ibish.

Cafiero says the shift in rhetoric from the White House toward Riyadh, and world leaders flocking to the kingdom for a meeting with MbS after years of dismissing him, is a major victory for MbS as they try to convince him to increase his country’s oil output.

“The fact that you have [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, [French President Emmanuel] Macron, soon Biden in Saudi Arabia − this tells us that major leaders around the Islamic and Western worlds are coming to terms with what seems to be the future. Whether you love Mohammed bin Salman or you hate him it seems he’s going to be the next king and governments all over the world have to start engaging him,” Cafiero says.

Since Mohammed became crown prince in June 2017, he has shaken up his conservative kingdom with major liberal social and economic reforms.

MbS has been acting as a king, making major political and economic decisions that will affect his country for generations to come.

Ibish says there is a sense of anger and frustration in Riyadh and among Saudis that as popular as his decisions have been, they are overlooked by the West.

“He doesn’t get a lot of credit for it and Saudi Arabia doesn’t get credit for. All fixated on one assassination, … human rights cases and the Yemen war.”

Ibish, who has been to the kingdom several times in the last few years, is “astounded” by the change undertaken by MbS, describing it as an “extraordinary transformation.”

“MbS is an incredible social reformer. We haven’t seen something like this maybe in a hundred years, maybe since Japan in the 19th century. This kind of transformation is so dramatic and so sudden that it’s mind–boggling.”

His highly ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 strategic framework aims to free the kingdom from its dependence on oil, diversify its economy and create financial opportunities for Saudis.

He is undertaking a risky yet ambitious program to modernize ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia and assert its primacy in the Middle East and beyond.

He is credited with opening the door for Saudi women to drive and lifting the ban on them attending concerts and sporting events.

Prince Mohammed has ruthlessly consolidated control over the kingdom’s economic and security power centers.

His aim is to satisfy young Saudis and attract foreigners to work there. He also hopes to draw tourists.

He seems to have the support of Saudi youth, who are thirsting for more freedoms and openness to the world.

Saudi Arabia is a young country, with more than two-thirds of the population under the age of 35.

“We need more jobs, we need political, social, and economic reforms, and that is what the crown prince is doing right now,” says 28-year-old Mohammad Madini, who has a business degree but is still looking for a job.

Madini told The Media Line that the kingdom has been neglected for decades with no serious vision of how to prepare for the future.

“Change will not happen easily and fast, but we can see the wheel of change in motion, and it is a serious matter. He is young and understands what needs to happen,” Madini says.

But all this has been tarnished and overshadowed by the killing of Khashoggi and the imprisonment of hundreds of activists, journalists, academics, and clerics.

And in a move to assert his control, Mohammed has taken even greater control of the Saudi media, making sure the message dispersed is controlled.

He has sent dozens of nonviolent clerics and Islamic intellectuals to prison, leading current and former US officials to question whether his talk of reform masks a crackdown on dissent.

Prince Mohammed is also the minister of defense, and he is the architect behind the intervention in the war in Yemen in 2015 to block Saudi Arabia’s archenemy Iran.

The seven-year-old Saudi-led military coalition that includes the United Arab Emirates, fighting against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, killed hundreds of thousands of people and helped to cause the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with millions of Yeminis on the brink of famine.

But sudden change often ends badly in the Middle East, and warning flags are raised for some by the crown prince’s actions at home and abroad.

“My belief is that the social, cultural, and hopeful economic liberalization that is supposed to be going on in SA − this last one is the hardest − dovetails with the political repression and political centralization because I think there’s a fear that these liberalization reforms could lead to the downfall of the government,” says Ibish.

He doesn’t see any forces at this time that might hinder MbS’s efforts to become the next king.

“Without a doubt, it’s easy to be confident that he’ll become a king because you have to ask yourself what would stop him. Everything is in place,” Ibish says.

Many describe the prince as unstable, but Ibish says that despite the cause for concern, “you’d have to say yes he’s going to be the next king.

“He’s very ruthless and he’s very volatile, and you are not sure which version of him you are going to get at any given moment,” continues Ibish. “I think you’d have to say yes. The real question is about his volatility. He’s young, and so is this youth or character rational? Inexperience or he’ll never grow into the role, we have no idea. But you’d have to bet yes. Because he’s been an effective crown prince, he does govern day to day.”

Ibish says the narrative that Saudi Arabia is an unstable state is “pretty weak.”

“[The kingdom] seems stable enough for him to ascend to the throne. It seems like it.”

Cafiero says MbS “certainly made some decisions in the past that come across as being very aggressive, some people in the region have a perception of him as a loose cannon, at times his judgment has been horrible,” but he argues that the prince has learned from his mistakes.

“I would like to think that over the years Mohammed bin Salman has learned some lessons and matured,” Cafiero says.

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Ahead of Biden Summit, MbS Tours Egypt, Jordan, Turkey

Many in the Hashemite Kingdom hope the Saudi crown prince’s visit will end a period of coldrelations and help to improve the economic situation

The maverick crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, also known by the initialsMbS, is embarking on a three-country tour aimed at coordinating the narrative of key MiddleEast states during US President Joe Biden’s upcoming summit with regional leaders.

The summit will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in mid-July, and be attended by the GulfCooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UnitedArab Emirates) as well as King Abdullah of Jordan, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt andIraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Media Line that the prince’s regional tour is an effort to demonstrate before the Biden visit that he is far from isolated and that Saudi Arabia is a key regional player.

“MbS is only traveling where he’s assured a warm reception with Turkey as the most importantstop, indicating that as far as [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is concerned the [Jamal]Khashoggi file is now closed,” Miller says.

In Jordan, the visit has gained importance because of the tension between Jordan and SaudiArabia on topics such as the Hashemite custodianship of holy places in Jerusalem, and the“mutiny case” where Prince Hamzah, the half-brother of King Abdullah, was arrested in April2021 after allegations he engaged in a plot aimed at destabilizing the king’s rule. The affairincluded media reports about the accused and Gulf countries, including the involvement ofBassem Awadallah, a former head of the Jordanian Royal Court who worked as an adviser toMbS.

Miller argues that given the chronic tensions with King Abdullah over reported Saudiinvolvement in the alleged coup plot involving Prince Hamzah, a visit to Amman will“demonstrate that Saudi-Jordanian tensions have at least been papered over. Saudi funding forJordan’s economic development is also on the table.”

Aaron Magid, a US-based analyst and the host of the On Jordan podcast, also thinks that theHamzah issue will be part of the private discussion but will not dominate the visit.

“The 2021 Prince Hamzeh sedition affair looms large over this week’s meeting between KingAbdullah and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” he said. “While the Saudigovernment’s exact role in the affair remains ambiguous, King Abdullah would likely beinterested in a personal commitment from MbS not to intervene in internal Jordanian politics,especially within the royal family going forward.

“A tangible way for MbS to strengthen ties with Jordan would be to boost economic aid to the cash-strapped Amman but without any conditions attached for the Hashemite Kingdom,” Magidsaid.

Regional and royal family issues aside, Jordan has many hot issues on its plate, including the Syrian refugee humanitarian issue, the drug problem at the border, and a serious economic crisis with high unemployment, especially among the youth.

Many in Jordan are hoping the visit will end a period of cold relations and help to improve thedifficult economic situation. Saudi Arabia, which was a major supporter of the Jordaniantreasury, has stopped doling out money without strings attached.

Saudi Arabia last pledged to support Jordan’s general budget at the 2018 Mecca Summit, in theform of a $250 million grant to be transferred in five annual installments of $50 million.

Samar Muhareb, CEO of Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development, a Jordanian thinktank, told The Media Line the visit comes at a unique time for Jordan.

“After the pandemic, we got inflation and Jordanians are optimistic that this visit could offer a relief from the economic problems,” she says.

Muhareb is worried about high expectations, but she anticipates that many things will change locally and regionally with the birth of a coalition that includes Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt.

The US and Israel, of course, have other plans, she argued. “But it is not clear where SaudiArabia is moving on Israel or if Jordan will be the bridge for Saudi to Israel.”

Tagreed Odeh, a Jordanian political scientist, told the Media Line the crown prince’s visit aims atpreempting the summit that Biden will hold with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia.

“Relations with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states have always been strategic for Jordan, but to ensure the success of this relationship, a lot of effort and agreements are needed on the security and economic fronts,” Odeh says, adding that the visit comes at a sensitive time as the area is suffering from continuous regional wars as well as the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden also has several hot issues on his plate including the Yemen cease–fire, regional economic and security cooperation, and guaranteeing the world supply of energy, especially in light of the war in Ukraine. All these issues are in addition to the major problem of Iran, whose relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE has been strained of late.

Many argue that the US president’s principal goal is to encourage the oil-producing Gulfcountries and Iraq to increase production, in a move he hopes will lower gasoline prices inAmerica in the crucial months before the midterm elections on November 8.

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HONG KONG (Reuters) -The world’s biggest gambling hub Macau began its second day of mass COVID-19 testing on Monday after dozens of locally transmitted cases were discovered over the weekend, with most businesses shut but casinos remaining open.

The testing of Macau’s roughly 600,000 residents is expected to end on Tuesday as the Chinese-ruled former Portuguese colony adheres to China’s “zero COVID” policy aiming to eradicate all outbreaks at just about any cost.

Most residents are asked to stay home, restaurants will be shut for dine-in and border restrictions have been tightened, meaning casino revenue is likely to be close to zero for at least a week and likely the coming weeks, analysts said.

Shares of Macau casinos tumbled on Monday morning with Sands China leading the slide falling over 8% the biggest decline since March 15.

MGM China, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment, Melco and SJM Holdings dropped between 4%-7%.

Macau’s government relies on casinos for over 80% of its income, with most of the population employed directly or indirectly by the casino industry.

The latest outbreak came suddenly and has been spreading rapidly with the source still unknown, Macau’s chief executive Ho Iat Seng said in a statement on the government’s website.

Macau’s previous coronavirus outbreak was in October last year. An outbreak in the neighbouring Chinese territory of Hong Kong this year saw more than 1 million confirmed infections, and more than 9,000 deaths, swamping hospitals and public services.

While Hong Kong has seen an increase to over 1,000 daily cases in the past week, officials have said they are unlikely to further tighten restrictions as the pressure on medical services has not increased.

Macau only has one public hospital and its services are already stretched on a daily basis. The territory’s swift plan to test its entire population comes as it keeps open the border with mainland China, with many residents living and working in the neighbouring Chinese city Zhuhai.

China in contrast has not opened its borders to Hong Kong, with the financial hub largely isolated from the mainland and the international world.

Macau’s legislature is this week due to approve an amended gaming law which will lay the groundwork for what is required from the multibillion dollar casino operators to continue operating.

“Depending on how quickly Macau is able to get the newest outbreak under control, there is risk of delay to finalisation of the gaming law amendments and subsequent concession

tender process,” said Vitaly Umansky, analyst at Sanford C Bernstein.

(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Michael Perry and Stephen Coates)

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By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies on Sunday lost their absolute majority in the National Assembly and with it control of the reform agenda, a crushing outcome for the newly re-elected president.

There is no set script in France for how things will now unfold as Macron and his centrist Ensemble bloc seek a way forward to avoid paralysis. Here are possible scenarios.

A COALITION DEAL

This was the rule during the Third and Fourth Republics pre-1958, but coalitions were so unstable that governments often lasted only a few months or so.

This instability, which some observers say even led to France’s early defeat to Nazi Germany in 1939 by leaving the country unprepared, is why post-war leader Charles de Gaulle drafted a new constitution for the Fifth Republic with wide-ranging presidential powers and a two-round system that was designed to give the president a strong majority.

As a result, coalition building has not been a feature of post-war politics in France, leaving the political class with minimal experience or tradition in consensus building, unlike other countries such as the Netherlands or Germany.

Macron may still try to reach out to the conservative Les Republicains party, the only mainstream party with the numbers to push him over the 289 threshold for an absolute majority.

Last week, Macron quietly reached out to the head of the Senate, LR veteran Gerard Larcher, a government source told Reuters, suggesting he was paving the way for such a scenario.

Senior LR officials, however, were on Sunday swift to pour cold water on a formal coalition.

DEALS ON A BILL-BY-BILL BASIS

If a coalition is not possible, the president might have to deal-make on a bill-by-bill basis.

Only once before in the Fifth Republic has a president with a minority government been left negotiating deals on a bill-by-bill basis.

In 1988, the Socialist president Francois Mitterrand failed to secure an absolute majority and during the next five years had to seek compromises with other parties, sometimes with the centre-right, on other occasion with the once-powerful Communist party.

Major legislation, such as the creation of a tax to help finance social welfare still in place today — was enacted although sometimes the bills passed by only a handful of votes.

Les Republicains, the party of former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, would be the obvious partner, in particular on economic policy.

The same senior LR officials who dismissed the prospect of a coalition said their party would be open to approving legislation on a case-by-case basis.

“If some bills go in the right direction, obviously LR will vote them, but there will be no pact whatsoever with Emmanuel Macron,” said Cecile Richez, deputy head of LR.

Macron’s government spokeswoman, Olivia Gregoire, said the government would reach out to moderate voices from the left and right.

Sources close to Macron also say LR may at some point split in two, with some lawmakers persuaded to defect to Ensemble.

In either scenario involving conservative support, the position of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, a technocrat who hails from the left, becomes more perilous.

CHAOS

If French parties fail to agree on anything, paralysis will ensue. A minority government would have only limited administrative power, and may not even be able to pass the budget bill at the end of the year.

As president, Macron has the power to call a snap parliamentary election anytime. He may want to take the risk after a prolonged period of paralysis.

But he is not assured of getting a majority the second time round.

Jacques Chirac famously lost his majority when he called a snap election that he thought he would win in 1997, ushering in a period of cohabitation with a Socialist-led new majority and losing virtually all levers of power.

Should Macron lose again, he won’t be able to call a new election before another year. Calls for institutional reform, and perhaps even Macron’s resignation, would certainly become stronger.

(Reporting and writing by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Caroline Pailliez; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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By Nelson Bocanegra, Oliver Griffin and Carlos Vargas

BOGOTA/BUCARAMANGA (Reuters) – Leftist Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement, who has vowed profound social and economic change, won Colombia’s presidency on Sunday, the first progressive to do so in the country’s history.

Petro beat construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez with an unexpectedly wide margin of more than 700,000 votes in what analysts said was a demonstration of Colombians’ eagerness for efforts to combat deep inequality.

Petro, a former mayor of capital Bogota and current senator, has pledged to fight inequality with free university education, pension reforms and high taxes on unproductive land. He won 50.5% to Hernandez’s 47.3%.

Petro’s proposals – especially a ban on new oil projects – have startled some investors, though he has promised to respect current contracts.

His victory was likely to cause market jitters until his cabinet is announced, analysts told Reuters on Sunday.

“From today Colombia changes; Colombia is different,” Petro told cheering supporters in Bogota’s concert arena. “Change consists precisely in leaving behind sectarianism.”

“It is not a time for hate, this government, which will begin on Aug. 7, is a government of life,” he said.

Alejandro Forero, 40, who uses a wheelchair, cried as results came in.

“Finally, thank God. I know he will be a good president and he will help those of us who are least privileged. This is going to change for the better,” said Forero, who is unemployed.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Bogota to celebrate, with some dancing near its largest polling place under intermittent rain.

This campaign was Petro’s third presidential bid and his victory adds the Andean nation to a list of Latin American countries that have elected progressives in recent years.

Graphic: Leftist Petro wins Colombia presidency – https://graphics.reuters.com/COLOMBIA-ELECTION/dwpkrmabovm/chart.png

Petro’s victory showed people in Colombia – where nearly half the population lives in some form of poverty – are eager to fight inequality, said Daniela Cuellar of FTI Consulting.

“What the Colombian population demonstrated today is that they are seeking a government focused on key social issues,” she said. “Colombia’s longstanding ailments of inequality, which were exacerbated by COVID-19, have contributed to the electorate seeking a shift.”

But a fragmented congress, where a dozen parties have seats, will act as a check on Petro’s proposals.

“Colombia’s institutional strength and rule of law appear sufficiently robust for the country to maintain economic stability,” Cuellar said. “Moreover, campaigning is not governing, Petro’s policies will be more moderate.”

“Even if he tries to pass radical reforms, he does not have the congressional support to implement them,” she added.

Petro, 62, said he was tortured by the military when he was detained for his involvement with the guerrillas, and his potential victory had high-ranking armed forces officials bracing for change.

Petro’s running mate, Francia Marquez, a single mother and former housekeeper, will be the country’s first Afro-Colombian woman vice-president.

“Today I’m voting for my daughter – she turned 15 two weeks ago and asked for just one gift: that I vote for Petro,” said security guard Pedro Vargas, 48, in Bogota’s southwest on Sunday morning.

“I hope this man fulfills the hopes of my daughter, she has a lot of faith in his promises,” added Vargas, who said he typically does not vote.

Petro has also pledged to fully implement a 2016 peace deal with FARC rebels and seek talks with the still-active ELN guerrillas.

MARKET JITTERS

Analysts have said the proposed halt to oil development could send investment elsewhere at a time when Colombia is struggling with low credit ratings, a large trade deficit and national debt which has doubled to 72% of GDP over the last decade.

Oil accounts for nearly half of exports and close to 10% of national income, but Petro argues new projects should be barred for environmental reasons and to move Colombia away from dependence on the industry.

Petro has also promised to increase taxes and royalties on extractive industries and charge major landholders for unproductive land, raising some $5.2 billion. He also proposes to raise up to $3.9 billion by progressively taxing companies.

“We think on Tuesday both interest rates on TES bonds and the exchange rate will depreciate, but we need to see what type of rhetoric Petro gives us, what type of cabinet he’ll give us,” said Sergio Olarte, head economist for Colombia at Scotiabank.

Monday is a holiday in Colombia.

“The magnitude of movements in the coming trading sessions will depend on the economic line that the new president offers,” agreed David Cubides, head economist at Allianz brokerage, who said he expects local market volatility during the next week.

Current President Ivan Duque tweeted he had called to congratulate Petro, and they have scheduled a meeting in coming days to ensure a harmonious transition.

Colombian presidents are limited to one term.

Some 22.6 million people voted, about 1.2 million more than in the first round. Some 2.3% of voters turned in protest votes, backing neither candidate.

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, Oliver Griffin, Carlos Vargas, Luis Jaime Acosta and Julia Symmes Cobb; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Grant McCool, Chizu Nomiyama, Lisa Shumaker and Nick Zieminski)

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By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador declared force majeure late on Saturday over the impact of protests against the government’s social and economic policies in the Andean country, while President Guillermo Lasso tried to clamp down on unrest.

The oil company declared force majeure for its exploration, exploitation, transport and commerce sectors – halting exports – after protesters entered oil fields, affecting output, it said in a statement.

The move followed Lasso’s decision to declare a state of exception in three provinces late on Friday, in a bid to calm protests called by indigenous groups rejecting of the government’s economic policies.

The state of exception will last for 30 days in the provinces of Imbabura, Cotopaxi, and Pichincha – areas that include capital city Quito – which have seen greater violence amid protests, with attacks on flower farms and damage to infrastructure, while police officers have also been detained by protesters.

Curfews in Quito will run from 10 p.m. (0300 GMT), until 5 a.m. from Saturday, Lasso said late on Friday, while gatherings will be banned all day in the affected provinces. He did not say how long the measures would last.

“I called for dialogue and the answer was more violence, there is no intention to find solutions,” Lasso said in a televised broadcast.

Indigenous groups launched protests on Monday, with demonstrators blocking roads across the country in opposition to Lasso’s social and economic policies, demanding gasoline price freezes, a halt to further mining and oil projects, and more time for small farmers to pay their bank loans.

Petroecuador said it has lost 6,975 barrels of crude since protests started and has halted some drilling operations.

Lasso will increase help for the most vulnerable sectors and will subsidize fertilizer costs by 50% for small and medium farmers, while the public bank will forgive overdue loans worth up to $3,000.

There will be no increase in the costs of diesel, gasoline, and gas, Lasso added.

Indigenous groups continue to block roads connecting Quito with the north and south of the country, while students have supported the protests.

Leonidas Iza, president of Ecuador’s CONAIE indigenous organization, said on social media that Lasso’s proposals would partially resolve the issues but he doubted they would be implemented.

“From this moment we are preparing to mobilize and reject these policies in Quito,” he said.

The protests have cost the country’s productive sector $50 million and led to shortages in certain products and fuels.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Franklin Paul and William Mallard)

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By Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has dispatched medical crews and epidemiological investigators to a province battling the outbreak of an intestinal disease, state media reported on Sunday.

At least 800 families suffering from what North Korea has only called an “acute enteric epidemic” have received aid in South Hwanghae Province so far.

Enteric refers to the gastrointestinal tract and South Korean officials say it may be cholera or typhoid.

The new outbreak, first reported on Thursday, puts further strain on the isolated country as it battles chronic food shortages and a wave of COVID-19 infections.

On Sunday state news agency KCNA detailed prevention efforts, including quarantines, “intensive screening for all residents,” and special treatment and monitoring of vulnerable people such as children and the elderly.

A national “Rapid Diagnosis and Treatment Team” is working with local health officials, and measures are being taken to ensure that farming is not disrupted in the key agricultural area, KCNA said.

Disinfection work is being carried out, including of sewage and other waste, to ensure the safety of drinking and household water, the report said.

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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GAZA (Reuters) -Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward a city in southern Israel on Saturday, drawing Israeli air strikes, the Israeli military said, after months of relative calm in the area.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza or Israel, which intercepted the rocket that was launched toward the city of Ashkelon, setting off air raid sirens and sending residents to bomb shelters.

Israel said Hamas, the Islamist militant group which controls Gaza, fired the rocket.

“In response to the rocket attack, Israel Defence Forces aircraft struck a number of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Hamas’s political wing, Hazem Qassem, declined to comment on the Israeli allegation and referred Reuters to the group’s military wing which did not immediately comment.

The Israel-Gaza frontier has been relatively calm since May 2021, when Israel and Palestinian militants fought an 11-day war.

Although Saturday’s cross-border fire did not appear to signal a wider escalation, violence has risen in the occupied West Bank and in Israel in recent months.

On Friday, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank city of Jenin, where military raids have been stepped up after men from the area carried out several lethal street attacks in Israel.

Hamas said one of the gunmen was among its members, while another militant group that draws on members of Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad claimed the dead gunmen as its own.

Qassem said Saturday’s Israeli air strikes were a “helpless attempt to end the revolutionary actions spreading across Palestine”.

U.S.-brokered peace talks aiming to establish a Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza collapsed in 2014 and there is no sign of their revival.

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a visit to the region in July.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Maayan Lubell in JerusalemWriting by Maayan LubellEditing by Clarence Fernandez and Mark Potter)

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